It seems like the cupcake craze has now made its way over to Scandinavia. There are a number of cupcakeries popping up all over and I’m certainly not complaining. I figured they needed a stand of their own so I decided to attempt one out of super simple materials and I love how it turned out. Plus, it’s super to pack up and transport to parties or picnics.

Step 1: I first created a design and then cut out all of the 5 parts below with my x-acto knife. You can download this template to the size that you’d like and use it as a template to transfer to your matte board.

Step 2: Assemble the parts together by first putting part 2 on top of part 1. Continue by stacking part 4 on top of the stand and sliding it down to the bottom rung. Add part 5 by repeating and putting it on the middle rung. Finish it off with part 3 at the top rung.

Step 3: I decided to give it a spray of gold spray paint for extra shine. I first disassembled the parts and then sprayed them and let them dry for a day. Then spray the other side and let dry for a day. That will avoid finger prints in the paint.

Voila! Easy squeezy!

To top it off my sweet husband made rhubarb cupcakes and I used gold liners to create a lovely golden glow against the stand.

We’ve been planning a “fruit party” for a few years now, the gist is that everyone brings an exotic fruit and we, the hosts, provide a batch of the more common kinds. Who doesn’t want to feast on a smorgasboard of Mother Earth’s natural sweets? These balloon garlands were a cinch to make and provide maximum effect.

You will need: balloons (make sure to get some long ones for bananas), green paper for leaves, twine, scissors, tape

Step 1: Blow up your balloons. To really make them look like fruits, size them proportionally so that a blueberry is smaller than an orange, etc. To make the grapes I taped the small purple balloons in clusters. Step 2: Tie the twine around each end of the balloon. Step 3: Cut out leaves

Step 4: Crease the leaf to provide the 3D effect. Step 5: Tape the leaf to the balloon using the end of the balloon as the stem. Step 6: Continue tying the balloons to the twine to create the garland. Have fun fruiting!